Authorities' Crackdown on Road Safety Risks Testing Transport Sector Fault Lines

Jun 29 , 2025. By BEZAWIT HULUAGER ( FORTUNE STAFF WRITER )

The federal government is betting on a sweeping overhaul of the driver licensing regime to reverse a grim road safety trajectory, but its single-minded focus on professional certification has sparked criticism from experts and industry insiders who argue that the strategy overlooks the broader systemic issues plaguing the transport sector.

Set to launch next year, the Ministry of Transport & Logistics’ (MoTL) reform begins with the country’s most consequential drivers, those steering tens of thousands of freight-laden trucks across a fast-expanding, but often crumbling, road network.

Transport officials claim nearly 10,000 drivers will undergo rigorous competency testing and finance their own retraining to earn professional certification. The goal, they say, is to purge unqualified and unethical drivers from the roads, individuals they blame for a staggering 68pc of accidents.

Transport Minister Alemu Sema (PhD) minced no words in laying responsibility for the carnage at the drivers’ feet.

“Unethical behaviour is the root cause,” he declared. “The new system won’t allow uncertified individuals behind the wheel.”

His Ministry has already rolled out pilot training in transport hubs like Dire Dawa and Modjo, with plans to extend to key cross-border corridors with Djibouti.

"The new system won't allow uncertified individuals behind the wheel," said KedilMagist Ibrahim, an advisor to the Minister. "The revamped licensing structure directly connects licence issuance with verified occupational competence."

The sense of urgency is backed by data. Last year, Ethiopia recorded 35,196 road accidents, killing 2,722 people and injuring 4,941 others. That marked an increase of 489 incidents and 474 deaths over the previous year. Even with improved accident reporting, particularly from previously under-monitored regions such as Tigray Regional State, the numbers displayed a deteriorating safety environment.

Yet critics contend that the Ministry’s understanding of the problems is alarmingly reductive.

For heavy truck operators and their representatives, the reforms border on scapegoating. Yirgalem Sefani of the Ethiopian Heavy Truck Employers Association acknowledged the long-standing issue of license fraud but contended the Ministry’s training focus is misplaced.

“It isn’t about tests,” he told Fortune. “It’s about discipline.”

He attributed most accidents to deep-seated issues, such as poor driver motivation, substance abuse, abysmal wages, and insufficient vehicle oversight.

"Many drivers exhibit a lack of fulfilment in their work," Yirgalem said.

It is a voice partly echoed by Solomon Zewdu, representing the Ethiopian Heavy Truck Drivers Association. He believes technical skill gaps are a red herring. Instead, he called for a systemic rethink that encompasses working conditions, employer accountability, and broader enforcement.

He argued that the real culprits are not drivers but employers. According to Solomon, most drivers already possess adequate technical skills, and attributed the real issues to poor work ethics and insufficient vehicle inspections.

“Drivers are overworked, underpaid, and treated unfairly,” he said, accusing employers of routinely violating labour laws.

Academics, too, are unconvinced. Abiy Aleneh, a transport and education specialist at Kotebe University, described the Ministry’s approach as “overly simplistic and very biased.”

For Abiy, the real drivers of the crisis lie elsewhere. They include poor infrastructure, aging fleets, lax pedestrian safety enforcement, and a deeply flawed vehicle inspection regime.

“The annual checks are riddled with corruption,” he said, calling for an independent body to investigate crash causes and enforce standards.

Indeed, last year’s crash fatality data from Addis Abeba supports this view. Of the 401 deaths in the capital, 86pc were pedestrians. Most incidents occurred on weekends between 6:00pm and 10:00pm, with speeding cited in nearly half of the cases. Experts say that such figures uncovered deeper issues in urban planning, policing, and traffic calming, beyond driver competence alone.

Despite mounting criticisms, federal transport officials remain resolute. Minister Alemu’s report to Parliament last week illustrated a paradox where commendable financial discipline was shadowed by structural inefficiencies.

Budget execution surpassed 90pc across multiple projects, with 1.8 billion Br in expenditures. Freight turnover hit 14.28 million Br, with logistics transactions exceeding 14.4 million Br, evidence, officials say, of improved alignment between fiscal planning and execution.

Yet, beneath the financial sheen lies a tangle of dysfunction. Chronic power outages in rail transport repeatedly disrupted schedules. A plan to relocate the Ministry’s Policy Research Institute was shelved due to procurement red tape. Efforts to eliminate informal checkpoints faltered amid regional noncompliance, exposing a lack of regulatory authority.

A telling episode involved a regional administration allegedly continuing illicit road collections under a different guise, despite the formal removal of physical checkpoints.

PUBLISHED ON Jun 29,2025 [ VOL 26 , NO 1313]